Bahrain goes green

Energy efficient green island planned for the kingdom

By
Murray Garrard
31 August 2010

The UN’s Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change last year might have been something of a damp squib, but it did give Bahrain’s planning authorities the idea of building a green island off the coast of Manama. The concept revolves around the new manmade island which would maintain its own reservoir and would generate the majority of the island’s power through wind turbines and solar panels.

‘The Bahrain island is designed with both wind turbines and solar panels, which provide a potential for energy generation 24 hours a day,’ communication manager and leading architect on the project, Sten Sodring commented.

The project is estimated to cost in the region of between BD1.5bn and BD2.6bn, and would rival Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City (which aims to be carbon neutral when built), once it is completed, and will further improve Bahrain’s credentials as one of the most forward-thinking and architecturally adventurous in the Gulf region.